New D Coordinator: Anthony Weaver

DolFan 316 wrote:What I got from it is that Baker's a goner just as I suspected all along. Which means at least one new LB is on the way.

Yet another reason to acquire more draft picks. There are some good LB prospects in rounds 2-4 IMO. Jeremiah Trotter and Junior Colson are pretty high on my list, and both look like 2nd rounders to me. I absolutely love Payton Wilson, but that injury history makes him almost undraftable to me - I wonder how far he'll drop?

The absence of Howard, Baker and Ogbah when he called out names - the silence was deafening.

Not a huge deal - everyone knows our cap situation and there will be a good bit of roster upheaval.

X drove a hard bargain. Now, I think he's over priced and on the decline. A pleasant surprise if we can find a way to restructure and keep him, but I'm not expecting that at all.

Baker seems like a good player, the dropoff when he went out seemed significant - maybe he was calling plays? I don't know... he's just seemed underwhelming and he's been here forever.

JMP wrote:Yet another reason to acquire more draft picks.  There are some good LB prospects in rounds 2-4 IMO.  Jeremiah Trotter and Junior Colson are pretty high on my list, and both look like 2nd rounders to me.  I absolutely love Payton Wilson, but that injury history makes him almost undraftable to me - I wonder how far he'll drop?

Until pick 55, when Grier decides he just HAS to take him over every other LB available. You all know it.

white1 wrote:Baker seems like a good player, the dropoff when he went out seemed significant - maybe he was calling plays? I don't know... he's just seemed underwhelming and he's been here forever.

An average player looks like an All-Pro if every other player at his position on his team is bad. That's Baker in a nutshell.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BakeJe00.htm

I know I know, AV again but 7-8 is considered average for a non-QB who starts all or most games in a season.

Patrick Queen seems likely to be available. But if the Fins can't afford Baker I don't see how they'd afford a player who'd certainly be asking for more.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2024/02/ravens-to-let-lb-patrick-queen-hit-open-market

Given that the Ravens committed a five-year, $100MM contract to Smith last January, it was always unlikely that they would authorize a contract for Queen commensurate with his market value (which Spotrac estimates is $18.5MM/year).

I know JMP keeps saying the Phins will have plenty of cap room, but I do not see it. The "maff" just don't add up.

They can either restructure a bunch of contracts pushing piles of money into the future, and re-sign their own free agents, or go after other free agents who will be cheaper (and probably not as good!!).

Queen is better than Baker IMO but at what costs though? Is he 3 mill more per year better or 5 or 6 mill better??

As W1 and others have said, this is going to be very, very interesting to watch how the Phins handle this.

This just might be the year where Grier either proves himself or gets the axe.

white1 wrote:The absence of Howard, Baker and Ogbah when he called out names - the silence was deafening.

I would feel better if Weaver said AVG's name...but I don't think he did.

finfanatic wrote:I know JMP keeps saying the Phins will have plenty of cap room, but I do not see it. The "maff" just don't add up.

They can either restructure a bunch of contracts pushing piles of money into the future, and re-sign their own free agents, or go after other free agents who will be cheaper (and probably not as good!!).

Most of the high-dollar contracts the Dolphins have handed out were done with the knowledge that they'd be restructured sooner rather than later - so pushing money back to future years was anticipated and expected, and has already been factored into planning for future years. The Dolphins currently have lots of expected cap space available from 2025-2027, so money from the restructures can comfortably be pushed back to those years.

Dumping contracts like Baker, Ogbah, Jeff Wilson, Crossen and Howard will create lots of cap space - and that's just several easy moves. (But that does get tricky because a lot of that cap space won't be available till after June 1.) Signing Tua to a long-term deal likely creates well over $15 million in space just by itself.  Hill, Chubb and Ramsey (among others) can be easily restructured.

There's a lot to be done, but it's very doable and is really not an issue.  The Saints were in the same exact position last offseason and they freed up tons of space and were able to sign the top FA QB.  (And BTW, the Bills are in the same position heading into this offseason.)

JMP wrote:There's a lot to be done, but it's very doable and is really not an issue.  The Saints were in the same exact position last offseason and they freed up tons of space and were able to sign the top FA QB.  (And BTW, the Bills are in the same position heading into this offseason.)

Not to hijack the thread but...the Saints are once again in the worst cap situation of any team by far. It'll either be really enteratining or really infuriating to me to see how they wiggle out of it via New Orleans voodoo witch doctor magic THIS time.

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/new-orleans-saints

And speaking of the Bills they've already declared they intend to...keep Von Miller It's just your typical 2020s-style double down in which a company makes a major mistake, they know it's a major mistake, they know that everyone else knows it, and they respond by...being even MORE determined to keep making it!

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2024/02/bills-likely-to-retain-von-miller

My point is, if they can afford to actually keep Miller with Allen's ginormous deal then there really is no excuse for Grier not to keep AVG around regardless of how the Wilkins situation goes.

Keeping Von Miller is just plain stupid. He's been on a steady decline and was an absolute non-factor this past season. I guess they don't want to deal with the dead cap. That was an awful contract.

The tough part about keeping AVG is that if the Dolphins don't act fast, you know some team is going to swoop in and offer him an insanely stupid giant contract that the Phins couldn't - and shouldn't - match.

The tough part about keeping AVG is that if the Dolphins don't act fast, you know some team is going to swoop in and offer him an insanely stupid giant contract that the Phins couldn't - and shouldn't - match.

Agree with this. If we let him test the market, his value is going to be more than we can afford, I'm afraid.

I'd get a deal done before free agency starts. We know what he can do and the position he plays is thin with the Chubb and Phillips injuries. Sign him early before his value skyrockets.

Of course, his agent probably knows what he can get in free agency, so it may be a moot point anyway. We'd probably have to sign someone like Ingram, or a different aging veteran as a stop gap. Or, another journeyman type player that won't break the bank.

white1 wrote:The absence of Howard, Baker and Ogbah when he called out names - the silence was deafening.

And now we know why.

JMP wrote:I would feel better if Weaver said AVG's name...but I don't think he did.  

Losing AVG would make this the worst birthday I've had in years I've begun the process of preparing myself for it emotionally. Yes, it's going to take a week and even that might not be enough.

I think AVG bought a house in Miami, didn't he?

Maybe that would be enough to get him to stay in Miami?

But from what I am seeing from other team's fan sites, AVG is at the top of a lot of LB needy team's fans want list!

Sad to say...

so, it might just be semantics, but are we gonna start using the "r" word?  with Wilkins, Howard, and Baker (Ogbah didn't matter) all gone (for now) and Jones, Elliot and Davis not yet resigned, and Phillips and Chubb recovering and a new coordinator...  is Miami in "rebuilding" mode - at least on defense?  should we start lowering our expectations on that side of the ball?  can these guys all be replaced and the defense improve?  is this a defensive "tank" job?  just wondering out loud.

mercury22nathan wrote:so, it might just be semantics, but are we gonna start using the "r" word?  with Wilkins, Howard, and Baker (Ogbah didn't matter) all gone (for now) and Jones, Elliot and Davis not yet resigned, and Phillips and Chubb recovering and a new coordinator...  is Miami in "rebuilding" mode - at least on defense?  should we start lowering our expectations on that side of the ball?  can these guys all be replaced and the defense improve?  is this a defensive "tank" job?  just wondering out loud.

I'd say reload - not rebuild. It was time for some of these players (Ogbah, Howard, Baker) to go - no surprises there.

mercury22nathan wrote:so, it might just be semantics, but are we gonna start using the "r" word?  with Wilkins, Howard, and Baker (Ogbah didn't matter) all gone (for now) and Jones, Elliot and Davis not yet resigned, and Phillips and Chubb recovering and a new coordinator...  is Miami in "rebuilding" mode - at least on defense?  should we start lowering our expectations on that side of the ball?  can these guys all be replaced and the defense improve?  is this a defensive "tank" job?  just wondering out loud.

Can't be a rebuild when the QB is getting resigned to a deal north of $50 mil a season. Teams don't do that unless they think they can still contend.

A part of me still wants Grier to go all-in and trade Tua. Get out of cap jail once and for all!

Yeah, I heard a guy on the XM radio the other day say he thought the Phins should trade Tua and go after Baker Mayfield?

If Tua is asking for close to 60 mill per and the Phins could sign Baker for 40 mill.... this ridiculous opinion starts to get less ridiculous and things COULD get mighty interesting??

finfanatic wrote:Yeah, I heard a guy on the XM radio the other day say he thought the Phins should trade Tua and go after Baker Mayfield?

If Tua is asking for close to 60 mill per and the Phins could sign Baker for 40 mill....  this ridiculous opinion starts to get less ridiculous and things COULD get mighty interesting??      

LOL Trade Tua and sign Baker. Now I've heard it all!

The idea behind trading Tua is to save lots of cap space - not to save minimal cap space by trading Tua and signing a vastly inferior QB for big bucks.

If you trade Tua, you have two options: you either use the draft picks acquired in the the trade to move to the top 3 in April and draft the next QB OR you sign a cheap vet to hold down the fort for a year and hope he loses enough games so you can draft the next QB in 2025. You don't trade Tua and then sign another big money QB who isn't as good. That makes the team worse and still leaves a ton of cap space eaten up by a QB - only the new QB isn't nearly as good as the one you dumped. The end result is, your team is worse and you're still on the hook for a ton of money invested in a QB.

The Fins essentially “married” themselves to Tua when they tanked to get him.

We can debate that point but consider this: agreeing to hire McDaniel was all about maximizing Tua and not much else. He was not a proven head coach candidate.

The team is in an odd place. Aging superstars without much in the way of young talent. Now getting ready to sign their franchise QB.

I don’t know what the smart move would be but I know this. There’s no way Grier can justify moving on from Tua given what it took to get him. Ross would probably fire him even if he suggested it.

We will do what it takes to keep players like Tua Tyreek Ramsey Chubb and we will fill in around them with value contracts.

Let’s see if it works.

white1 wrote:The Fins essentially “married” themselves to Tua when they tanked to get him.

That's the only part of your post I take exception to. No matter what the NFL says, winning 5 of the last 8 games is NOT tanking

Hill will be here for this season and next and that's it. Just look at how much his cap number blows up in 2026

https://overthecap.com/player/tyreek-hill/4878

Also, Ramsey's had his deal voided after 2025 so he's likely only here for that time as well.

https://overthecap.com/player/jalen-ramsey/4718

Chubb's deal is a but more problematic, but at least his cap hit in the future won't take a massive leap.

https://overthecap.com/player/bradley-chubb/6890

That's the only part of your post I take exception to. No matter what the NFL says, winning 5 of the last 8 games is NOT tanking Evil or Very Mad

Totally agree. Intent was there but Flores / Fitzpatrick was not the right combo to execute the “tank”

Let me offer this: Fans were all in for the mad plan assuming it would set us up to be a contender. The upside never happened and now we’re all worried the talent leaving will be much more than whoever we sign / draft to replace them.

Who could blame us? We know the roster problems and there isn’t a clear line of sight to fill those holes. If the “tank” didn’t work then what’s next?

Thought this was interesting:

Travis Wingfield
@WingfieldNFL

Chris Grier says new DC Anthony Weaver came in with the type of players he wants and visuals to show the staff/front office what it looks like.

"Anthony deserves a lot of credit being so prepared and having visuals ready," Grier said.

1:22 PM · Apr 16, 2024